Rajya Sabha MP Khekiho Zhimomi accused the Congress Party in Nagaland of creating roadblocks and hurdles in the democratic process in Nagaland by opposing simultaneous elections to the lone Lok Sabha seat and the four vacant Assembly seats in the state.
Khekiho in a release Sunday said it was learnt during his visit to the Election Commission in New Delhi that the Congress leaders from Nagaland in a petition to the Commission demanded that the forthcoming Lok Sabha election and by-elections to the four Assembly seats in the state should not be held simultaneously.
Describing the demand of the Congress Party as “politically motivated” and “an evil design” to deny functioning of democracy in the state, the MP said there was no justification in deferring the by-polls to the vacant Assembly seats in the state when the state machinery was fully geared up to conduct simultaneous elections.
Khekiho also pointed out that it was clearly stated in the guidelines of the Election Commission that simultaneous elections for both Lok Sabha and Assembly seats can be conducted in the states where delimitation process has not been implemented.
However, he was confident that the Election Commission being an independent and autonomous body would take necessary measures to conduct simultaneous polls as desired by the electorate of the state and not be swayed by the politically motivated demand of the Congress Party in Nagaland.